Sapphire and Steel investigate an old junk shop where the original landlord and a tenant have disappeared. The new landlord is a shapeless being who moves between time-zones via photographs and has the ability to imprison or release people from them. The agents find out that the Shape was originally released by the landlord's hobby of splicing together photographs from different periods. They discover the missing tenant, Ruth, trapped in a photograph, but the faceless Shape burns her alive within it. It then traps Sapphire and Steel and they are only saved by the bravery of a stripper called Liz. Eventually, the Shape is trapped in a kaleidoscope and placed on a sinking ship.